Advancements in HIV care and prevention
"There's definitely still a stigma around HIV in the community."
"There's definitely still a stigma around HIV in the community."
"There's definitely still a stigma around HIV in the community."
June is Pride Month, a time to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. But it's also a time to talk about some of the issues affecting people, like HIV.
"There's definitely still a stigma around HIV in the community. It's something that we definitely see every day," said Craig LaBerge-Esparza with UNM Truman Health Services, the largest HIV provider in New Mexico. "It's just constant negativity about it, about something being unclean or improper or not valid or not equal to the rest of us because of just something that they happen to have a condition they happen to have."
More than 1.8 million people in the United States have HIV, according to research done by Emory University.
"HIV is still quite prevalent. About 4,000 people in New Mexico are living with HIV at any given time, and about 88% of those are men," said Ashish R. Gandhe, also known as Dr. Ash, with the University of New Mexico. He added that New Mexican men with the virus are mostly 45 and older, but that is changing.
"A lot of individuals have felt that HIV is no longer a problem. But even in New Mexico, 150 new cases are diagnosed each year and that is in a younger population between the ages of 25 and 34," said Dr. Ash.
There is no cure for HIV, but experts told KOAT that knowledge and treatment for the virus have greatly improved over the years.
"When I started medical school, the treatments were not available, but when they became available, it was literally scores of pills, you know, 12 to 20 pills that you're taking 2 to 3 times per day," said Dr. Ash.
That is no longer the case. Treatment medications can now fit into one pill and new medicines like PrEP work to protect people from contracting HIV and it's roughly 98% effective.
There's also a medication called PEP.
"You take it up to 72 hours after your exposure to HIV. It's kind of like a concentrated dose of PrEP. You take it for 30 days after. You have to seek medical attention within 72 hours after the exposure and start that PEP medication," said LaBerge-Esparza. " Not quite the same effectiveness as PrEP... but it's still in the high 90s effectiveness."
Symptoms of HIV are similar to a common cold. Experts told KOAT that if someone believes they are at risk of HIV exposure and have a bad cold, they should get checked out.
Knowledge about HIV is more prevalent nowadays and some experts credit that to events like Albuquerque Pride Fest.
"When you're entering all the tests, about 70% of the people that we tested this year at Pride Fest got tested last year at Pride Fest," said LaBerge-Esparza.
HIV testing is free and experts recommend getting tested every year.
"If you're in direct care, HIV care for a certain period of time and you get your T-cell count down to where it's undetectable in standardized testing; you bring that down to where it's undetectable, you have zero chance of transmitting HIV in casual sex," said LaBerge-Esparza.
That means people can live long and healthy lives for years.
